San
Francisco 49ers
2018 Record: (4-12) 3rd NFC West
2018 Season Recap:
Offense
Points: 21.4 (21st)
Yards: 360.6 (16th)
Pass Yards: 241.7 (15th)
Rush Yards: 118.9 (13th)
Defense
Points: 27.2 (28th)
Yards: 346.6 (13th)
Pass Yards: 233.2 (11th)
Rush Yards: 113.4 (14th)
Coming into the 2018 offseason, the 49ers outlook was
ascending in terms of becoming a team that could compete in the NFC West with a
plethora of talent now on this roster. With coach Shanahan in his second season
as sideline boss for this storied franchise, and believing Jimmy Garoppolo was
in fact the answer to their quarterback problems that have plagued this club
for many years, things surly were looking up.
The NFL can be a harsh and cruel world from
time-to-time and the 49ers truly felt that wrath during the 2018 season. Even
before things got started, newly acquired running back Jerick McKinnon was lost
to an ACL injury literally days before the season was set to kick-off.
Forging ahead with the regular season, Shanahan
corralled his troops to muster three very competitive contests in the first
three weeks, only to see his starting quarterback also fall to an ACL injury
verse the Kansas City Chiefs in week 3. Greater pain for a regular season
filled with so much promise to fall by the wayside to catastrophic injures, was
now the headline for San Francisco.
Without Jimmy Garoppolo leading the charge for the
remainder of the 2018 campaign, Kyle Shanahan utilized his genius to provide
other players with opportunity to make names for themselves. Even as the injuries
continued to pile up, Shanahan found credibility in practice squad quarterback
Nick Mullens to remain somewhat competitive when the CJ Beathard experiment
went sideways.
While the 49ers gave it their best shot for the rest
of the season after week 3, it was a forgone conclusion that success would be
hard to find with a club dealing with so much lost time to important positions.
When all was said and done for the 2018 season, heading back to the drawing
board with another high draft pick and continuing to build on a roster that is
gaining steam is the current view.
2019
Offseason WorkBook:
The
Coaching Staff
While young offensive mastermind Kyle Shanahan remains
the 49ers sideline boss for his third season in the bay area, majority of his
staff will also return this season.
San Francisco did see some changeover to specialty coaching positions where Kyle felt the need for a possible upgrade, but news
reports swirled around the fate of their quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello
more than most.
Shanahan initially blocked the Denver Broncos from
interviewing his QB coach with the suspicion that a lateral move would take
place, leaving the 49ers shorthanded and no promotion for a talented
instructor. Nevertheless, Kyle ended up allowing the conversation to occur once
assurances were made that Scangarello would in fact become the new offensive
coordinator for the Broncos, leaving Shane Day as the 49ers replacement.
Outside of some tinkering, the coaching staff
resembles much of the same group as last season to tackle 2019.
The
Offense
When reviewing the 49ers offense from a season ago, all
wasn’t lost in the statistical column as the 49ers found great achievement with
their star tight-end George Kittle breaking records in his coming out season.
Nick Mullens proved to be a viable backup with starter potential that might
fetch returns if a future trade was orchestrated.
The offensive line is a unit that is on the rise but
definitely requires a talent infusion on the inside to assist in pass
protection. While San Fran gave up a whopping 48 sacks to all three of their
starting quarterbacks on the season, they were quite efficient in opening up
lanes for their running backs falling just 98 rush yards shy of hitting 2000
total on the season.
With Jimmy Garoppolo slated to return to action during
OTA’s, a clearer indication of his recovery will be on tap for all to see. If
Jimmy can return to form, we should see a far better club this season with
their starting pivot back behind center.
The receiving core in our eyes has a decent level of
talent behind Goodwin, Pettis, and Bourne, but they definitely require a full blown
playmaker to take the top off of opposing defenses. Recent rumors have
suggested disgruntled Steelers superstar receiver Antonino Brown entertaining
the notion of somehow finding his way to the bay area this offseason. Obviously
with Brown still under contract with Pittsburgh, a trade would be the only
possible way Brown dons the red and gold this season. Outside of that
speculation, San Fran may want to look for more talent in the draft to solidify
this core.
With Jerick McKinnon also a hopeful candidate to
return to the field in OTA’s, the 49ers have solid amounts of depth at the
running back position, led by Matt Breida, Jeff Wilson, and Raheem Mostert.
While keeping all rostered may not be the way Shanahan plans to build, we could
definitely witness free agent of draft additions heading to San Fran.
The
Defense
While we had high hopes for this 49ers defensive unit,
there are many players currently rostered that we could see them do without.
The defensive line could be an absolute machine if the
team could extract better play from players like Solomon Thomas. While he came
into this league with extremely high upside, seeing the level of play drop off
this past season is a glaring warning sign. DeForest Buckner is still the best
player on this line and should once again see great success as the team adds
more viable depth.
San Francisco had perhaps the best duo of line backers
in the NFL behind Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman, only to see shades of
greatness which they left behind. Fred Warner did show good levels of ability
this past season leading the team in tackles and manning the middle of the
field. Malcolm Smith was a disappointment this season after playing in only 12
games and putting up pedestrian stats. On the bright side, the 49ers pilfered
Elijah Lee off the Vikings practice squad to see him preform admirably while
making a difference on the field. It’s not out of the question to see them
upgrade this group this offseason.
In review of the 49ers secondary, this unit has some
good potential, but could be without the services of their best player Jimmie
Ward as he could entertain playing elsewhere this season (free agent). Signing
Richard Sherman last season was something we didn’t endorse or necessarily
like, but he did have a fairly good campaign in helping San Fran achieve near
top ten rankings in pass defense.
Improvements can be made in almost all aspects on this
side, but San Francisco does employ great pieces that could be valuable depth
in the coming years.
Team
Free Agents / Team Salary Cap
When a team houses a losing record and has a
quarterback locked up to massive dollars, you would put things together
believing that trouble would be on the horizon for that club in terms of money
and roster building.
The complete opposite story can be told for the 49ers
as they hold a healthy 76 million (+$76,027,950) in free cap space even with
Garoppolo signed to his 130+ million dollar deal.
With a mere 16 players heading up their free agent
list, it’s our contention that most will not find their way back with the team.
Allowing Pierre Garcon and Earl Mitchell to walk free is of no consequence as
those players could be replaced with younger cheaper talent.
Priority players that should be retained by San
Francisco should be Safety Jimmie Ward, kicker Robbie Gould, and running back
Raheem Mostert. Outside of that, the list appears rather thin for players to
return.
While acquiring talent rather than cutting players
should be the main objective for the 49ers this offseason, seeing two potential
options to earn more toward the cap is here. Cutting Richard Sherman could very
well occur with his near 10 million dollar cap hit eating up 4.38% of space,
with only 2 million applied to dead money looks appealing. Also, removing 34
year old left tackle Joe Staley could give the brain trust time to pause, while
saving another 10.9 million toward the cap, it’s unlikely given no viable
replacement is on deck.
San Francisco does have many avenues to which they can
maintain their books, but as of right now, they aren’t in any conceivable
danger even with Armstead and Buckner coming up for contract renewals next
season.
The
NFL Draft
Heading into the 2019 NFL draft, the 49ers currently hold
six picks missing their 5th round selection. Based on what had
transpired throughout the season, San Francisco holds the 2nd
overall pick in the first round leaving many glorious possibilities.
San Fran can move in any direction with their first pick
including shoring up the offensive and defensive lines or going as far as to
pick the best line backer in the draft. Whenever a team requires many upgrades
to their roster while holding a high pick, trading down in our eyes should
always be an open conversation. Unless the 49ers feel there is a generational
talent sitting at pick 2, we would fully endorse trading back even a few picks
to garner more capital.
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